Has Museveni tamed the ungovernable Ugandans or Ugandans have tamed Museveni?

By Sam Akaki

“Every nation gets the government it deserves” said Joseph de Maistre, a Sardonian lawyer, diplomat, writer and philosopher.

As the NRM celebrate their 29th anniversary on Monday, it is pertinent to ask whether their unprecedented longevity in office proves that Museveni has tamed us, Ugandans, who were once so ungovernable that we forced out a president within 68 days.

An alternative question is whether, in fact, it is we, Ugandans, who have tamed and transformed the former guerrilla leader from a no-nonsense radical into a mellowed statesman, who now prefers pragmatism to idealism as demonstrated in a number of uncharacteristic decisions, including the way he has defused the potentially explosive cases of Gen. Sejusa and Amama Mbabazi and many others which we shall consider shortly.

But first, let us dissect, with the benefit of history and see whether Col. Kizza Besigye, Gen. Mugisha Muntu, Ambassador Olara Otunnu, Chairman Mao and others without titles, who are clamouring for power, really understand that all Ugandans are wired with the same Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA), which has carried the genes of rebellion, which has run through our blood for generations.

The British came, intent on colonising us, but settled for a protectorate when they discovered that the Buganda Kingdom was just as, if not more organised than their own United Kingdom, while the Banyoro, led by Kabalega were just as rebellious as, if not more so than their own Oliver Cornwall’s army that beheaded King Charles and declared the republic of Britain in 1649.

Milton Obote came, with bravado, shooting at, and then legislating the centuries-old kingdoms out of existence before declaring the United Socialist Republic of Uganda.

He walked a tight rope and was shot and almost killed by a group of Ugandans wearing UPC shirts before they finally got rid of him after eight years and two months in power.

Idi Amin came and unleashed a remorseless and relentless reign of terror, first on the Acholi and Langi tribesmen, then on everyone else including his own kinsmen and even Norah, his wife and mother of his children.

Although he declared himself life president, he was driven out of the country after eight years. Ugandans have not allowed him to return home, not even for burial, which is very cruel.

Professor Yusuf Lule, an academic, who replaced Idi Amin thought his intellectual prowess would win obedience, if not co-operation from Ugandans.

But he was forced to resign after 68 days in office, claiming that he did not want to be part of a controversy.

Lule was replaced by the erudite Godfrey Binaisa, a lawyer so experienced that he was awarded the title of British Queen’s Counsel (QC).

He was the man who first talked about “Umbrella” politics, a precursor to the Movement.

He rode the tiger, which was the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA) for 348 days before the tiger turned on him when he foolishly demoted and posted David Oyite-Ojok as ambassador to Algeria and Museveni from defence to regional co-operation.

Assisted by the Military Commission, Obote jubilantly returned, singing “Everyone, UPC; everywhere UPC”, and taunting his main rival Paul Semwogerere to “show us your commanders if you also fought to remove Idi Amin”.

But he also publicly admitted that whereas he was sure to reconstruct the ravaged economy, reconstructing the minds of Uganda was going to be difficult and so it proved.

He was overthrown by his commanders after four chaotic years in office.

General Tito Okello or Basilio Okello (no one knows who was in charge) came in July 1985, and found their own troops as well as other Ugandans so out of control that they sent emissaries to Zambia to apologise to Obote, but it was too late.

By the time the NRA rebels took Kampala on January 26, 1986, Uganda was symbolically and in reality a failed state. There was a proliferation of warlords, who shared nothing in common, except their loathing for Obote and love for power.

As each warlord controlled a hill around Kampala and because no one in particular was in charge of the country, civilians around the country were left to the mercy of the marauding gangs of the UNLA soldiers and other freelance fighters and armed criminals.

Today, 29 years on, the country is totally different from what it was 29 years ago, economically, politically and socially.

Whereas the army and other security personnel used to rape, rob and murder civilians with impunity, most Ugandans now take peace and the security of the limbs, body and property for granted. More than 50% Ugandans now sleep in permanent or semi-permanent houses.

A dot com child from Acholi or Buganda, who struggles to understand his or her parents’ spoken English and culture, has now more in common, culturally and in value terms, with their counterparts in Lango or Ankole. Everyone appears to have become capitalists, selling and buying something to earn a living.

Freedom of speech is so widespread that anyone can publish or broadcast almost anything about Museveni and his family and the worst they can expect is Museveni’s verbal or written response, or a letter from his lawyers.

But, whereas Museveni is maintaining a firm grip on the State House, which used to change hands every few years and whereas he is also in full command of the army and other security personnel that used to treat Ugandans foreign prisoners of war before overthrowing the sitting government; sadly, the President who came to power to end sectarianism has been forced by Ugandans to have sectarianism recognised by law.

According to Article 246 (1) of the Constitution “the institution of traditional leader or cultural leader (read sectarian leaders) may exist in any area of Uganda in accordance with the culture, customs and traditions or wishes and aspirations of the people to whom it applies.”

Above all, as Museveni watches, helplessly, Ugandans have formed the “amalgamated national criminal alliance”, a powerful and ruthless cartel, which has turned corruption into a virtue, if not a national culture.

Consider the recent report that up to 16 government officials shared $1m (sh2.9b) to influence the award of a multitrillion contract for the construction of the standard gauge railway.

The brazen celebration of corruption by building mansions and grabbing land has become such an indispensible part of life in Uganda that any president who tries to end the practice will probably be impeached by Parliament, voted out by the electorate at the earliest possible opportunity, or even assassinated.

If Besigye, Muntu, Otunnu and Mao and other presidential hopefuls think the British, Obote, Amin, Okello and Museveni have been bad rulers, let them get to the State House and discover how much worse the naturally corrupt and clan-centred Ugandans are.

So ungovernable that they will retrospectively appreciate why Museveni had to introduce the Public Order Management Act 2013!

The writer is a Ugandan based in London